02 November 2011

This quiz takes you through some of the latests vitamin D research findings 

1. Vitamin D reverses inflammatory changes associated with age-related memory impairment.

a)     True

b)     False

 True. Researchers from Ireland were the first to demonstrate that vitamin D3 acts as an anti-inflammatory agent and turns old brains into young brains--at least as far as inflammatory cytokines are concerned. This research suggests vitamin D may prevent, or even treat, age-related cognitive decline!

Biochem Soc Trans. 2005 Aug;33(Pt 4):573-7.

2. Your blood sugar is closely associated with your vitamin D level.

a)     True

b)     False

 True. Researchers in Australia added to the growing evidence that sun avoidance may have caused the epidemic of type 2 diabetes. The Australians' findings were straightforward and powerful. The higher your vitamin D level, the lower your blood glucose.

Clin Endocrinol (Oxf).  2005 Jun;62(6):738-41.

3. In July, a group from Minnesota found that 100 percent of elderly patients admitted for fragility fractures were vitamin-D deficient despite the fact that half of them were taking vitamin D supplements.

a)     True

b)     False

 True. The authors found that women taking supplemental vitamin D had average levels of 16.4 ng/ml while women not taking supplements had levels of 11.9.ng/ml, both dangerously low. None of the 82 women got enough sun or took enough vitamin D to obtain a level of 40 ng/ml. These were fragility fractures, not fractures caused by unusual trauma. That is, their bones just sort of fell apart.

Curr Med Res Opin. 2005 Jul;21(7):1069-74.

4. Women with the lowest vitamin D levels had five times higher risk for breast cancer.

a)     True

b)     False

True. Women with 25(OH)-vitamin D blood levels less than 20 ng/ml were more than five times more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than were women with levels above 60 ng/ml. That is five, repeat five, times more likely!

Eur J Cancer. 2005 May;41(8):1164-9. Epub 2005 Apr 14.

5. Avoiding the sun doubles the risk of prostate cancer.

a)     True

b)     False

True. Again, the risk of avoiding the sun is clear, this time in another study with prostate cancer. However, the authors pointed out that sun exposure increases the risk of skin cancer and believed that proper vitamin D supplementation "may be the safest solution to achieve an adequate vitamin D status."

Cancer Res. 2005 Jun 15;65(12):5470-9.

 6. South Korean researchers associated vitamin D deficiency with Parkinson's disease.

a)     True

b)     False

True.

J Korean Med Sci. 2005 Jun;20(3):495-8.

7. Researchers discovered that patients with chronic pain have phenomenally low vitamin D levels.

a)     True

b)     False

True. Researchers added to the evidence that severe vitamin D deficiency is associated with chronic pain. They found that 88 percent of their patients with chronic pain had levels less than 10 ng/ml. If they treated their patients, they did not report it. However, Swiss researchers recently treated chronic pain patients with vitamin D and reported the pain "disappeared" within one to three months in most of their patients. This is the second open study that showed adequate doses of vitamin D dramatically improved chronic pain.

Ann Rheum Dis. 2005 Aug;64(8):1217-9.

BMJ. 2004 Jul 17;329(7458):156-7.

Spine. 2003 Jan 15;28(2):177-9.

8. Severe vitamin D deficiency is common in TB patients.

a)    True

b)     False

True. First, the authors reviewed the impressive animal evidence that vitamin D can help treat TB. Then they reported that most of their immigrant TB patients had undetectable vitamin D levels. 

J Infect. 2005 Jun;50(5):432-7.

9. Virtually all nephrologists give renal failure patients a vitamin D-like drug.

Virtually all renal failure patients are severely vitamin D deficient.

a)     All are true

b)     All are false

c)      Some are true and some are false.

All are true. Finally, the truth about renal failure patients: most of them are vitamin D deficient despite taking vitamin D analogs! Most nephrologists prescribe activated vitamin D (calcitriol) or vitamin D analogs but not vitamin D. Calcitriol and vitamin D analogs do nothing to prevent vitamin D deficiency. Renal failure patients need both vitamin D and a calcitriol-like drug.  Moreover, 400 units a day of vitamin D will not correct their deficiencies. As you will see below, they need up to 4,000 units.

Am J Kidney Dis. 2005 Jun;45(6):1026-33.

Modified from Dr. John Cannell's Vitamin D quiz.  

06 October 2011

It’s possible...but unlikely.  Here are the facts that explain why

Full-body exposure of pale skin to summer sunshine for 30 minutes without clothing (85% of you body exposed) or sunscreen can result in the synthesis of between 10,000 and 20,000 IU of vitamin D.

 However: 

• A given area of skin can only produce a certain amount of vitamin D
• After repeated exposure to sun, the pigment melanin accumulates (you get a tan), which decreases the vitamin D uptake
• Dark skin can reduce vitamin D production by 50 fold. Aged skin (over 70 yrs) reduces vitamin D production by up to 4 fold.
• In NZ a “vitamin D winter” occurs for around 4-6 months in which weather conditions make it impossible to produce enough vitamin D from sunlight
• If you are on cholesterol lowering drugs your vitamin D production from sunlight will be compromised.
• Mid-day sun is most effective for producing vitamin D – this is also the hottest time to be out.
• Sun tan lotion, clothing, glass, smog or fog will stop UV-B sun rays (which produce vitamin D) – slip, slop, slap kills your vitamin D production

The bottom line is unless you are a fisherman, farmer, or otherwise outdoors and exposed regularly to sunlight you are unlikely to obtain adequate amounts of vitamin D from the sun.

Our ancestors ate vitamin-D-rich foods including the intestines, organ meats, skin and fat from certain land animals, as well as shellfish, oily fish and insects.  Modern diets usually do not provide adequate amounts of vitamin D partly because of the trend to low fat foods and partly because we no longer eat vitamin-D-rich foods.

Your diet and supplementation with cod liver oil is the most effective way of ensuring that your vitamin D levels are taken care of.

17 March 2010

Osteoarthritis is the most common of all joint disorders and is one of the leading causes of disability.  Osteoarthritis increases with age from 1% in people <30 years to 10% in those <40 years to more than 50% in individuals >60 years of age

Three key ingredients in skate liver oil help reduce joint pain - chondrotin, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D.

Chondroitin appears to help restore cartilage around joints and/or prevent further damage.  Almost all studies using chondroitin for the treatment of osteoarthritis have showed that chondroitin supplementation is effective for pain relief and improvement in function.

Skate oil is rich in omega-3 fatty acids.  Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to reduce pain and inflammation by reducing the production of inflammation-producing chemicals in the body.  A recent Australian study showed that fish oil reduced the use of chemical anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) by 75% in arthritic patients and reduced inflammation-causing chemicals by up to 41%.

Vitamin D is also a useful supplement for those suffering from joint pain.  Vitamin D is necessary in order to absorb calcium from foods. Without enough vitamin D, calcium will be in short supply, and your body will then take the calcium that it needs to function from your bones. This can make your bones less solid and weak.  The outer layer of your bones can also become soft and spongy.  The spongy layer may cause pain by expanding and pressing against sensitive tissues covering the bones (osteomalacia).Because vitamin D supports healthy bones, getting an adequate amount of it can help persons with many types of bone and joint pain.

Be aware that vitamin D usually doesn’t provide immediate relief from aches and pains like pain killers.  Vitamin D works on the cause of the problem rather than masking the symptoms.  It can take weeks or even months before improvement is felt.  Be patient and stick with your supplementation.

14 November 2009

Almost all cod liver oil is sourced from Norway and Iceland.  Industrial cod liver oil manufacturing involves alkali refining, bleaching, winterization and deodorization.  These processes remove natural vitamin D from the oil.  Almost all factories either produce vitamin deficient cod liver oil (vitamin D <900 IU per teaspoon) or add synthetic vitamins back into the oil (the most common procedure eg. Nordic Naturals).  Until early 2009 we were able to source cod liver oil from a factory that added the natural vitamins back into the processed cod liver oil.  Unfortunately, this factory has now followed the cheaper more commercial path of producing synthetically enhanced cod liver oil.

For those of you that have been using our product lines over the last few years, you will notice that our standard high-vitamin cod liver oil is now "off the menu".  Since we couldn't source a natural cod liver oil - we couldn't stock one.  The only natural cod liver oil that is high in vitamins A and D on the market is the fermented cod liver oil produced by Green Pasture that we stock.  This oil is batch brewed in Nebraska from cod livers using traditional lacto-fermentation and non-toxic methods without using heat and carbon filters that damage vitamins and omega-3 oils.  The result is a high vitamin cod liver oil containing 4000-9000  IU vitamin A and 3000-4000 IU vitamin D per teaspoon.  Super high-vitamin and exquisitely processed to preserve the natural qualities of cod liver oil.

We refuse to carry inferior products - and if you're already one of our customers we know that you've refused to use inferior products.